This will be one of the year's big ones. For their first time out under their own label auspices (with Atco distribution), the group is as forceful and dynamic as ever. Standout is "Brown Sugar," which is already rolling up the charts, but "Sister Morphine" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" have pullout potential, too.

- Billboard, 1971.

Bonus Reviews!

You'd think some compensation was in order a year and a half after the fact, but that old evil life's just got them in its sway. From title's like "Bitch" and "Sister Morphine" and (the Altamont reference) "Dead Flowers" through "Brown Sugar"'s compulsively ironic and bacchanalian exploitation/expose to the almost Yeatsian "Moonlight Mile," this is unregenerate Stones. The token sincerity of "Wild Horses" drags me. But "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "I Got the Blues" are as soulful as "Good Times," and Fred McDowell's "You Gotta Move" stands alongside "Prodigal Son" and "Love in Vain." A

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

The heavily studio-augmented live tapes capture and bottle the Stones at their demonic best with hits like "Brown Sugar" and their posed debauchery in songs like "Sister Morphine." Musicians Jim Price on trumpet, pianist Nick Hopkins and sax-player Bobby Keyes augment the band on stage while contributions come from great rock stylists like Billy Preston, Ry Cooder and Jack Nitzsche.

The undeniably muscular sound is a little dense and wearing from Compact Disc though the more studio oriented tracks are better in this respect -- Ry Cooder's wailing bottle-neck guitar playing has never sounded so potent as it does here.

- David Prakel, Rock 'n' Roll on Compact Disc, 1987.

This is unrepentant, unregenerate, arrogant Stones' style rock & roll at it's best (well, maybe not "Wild Horses"). From "Brown Sugar" to "Moonlight Mile" with eight soulful, nasty numbers in between, this is the music that made them the kings (or at least the Dark Princes) of early seventies rock & roll. With this release, the Stones changed labels to Atlantic/Atco for scandalous sums of money and their own label. The sound on Sticky Fingers is reed-thin and overbright. But it provides more clarity and detail than are available on the LP. A

- Bill Shapiro, Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD, 1991.

A ballsy, bluesy masterpiece made up of leftovers and works in progress from the preceding two years, including "Wild Horses," "Brown Sugar," and "Sister Morphine." * * * * *

- Bruce Eder , The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Sticky Fingers has the most famous cover art of any Stones album (Andy Warhol's zippered crotch shot) and -- "Brown Sugar" excepted -- among the most darkly weary music. But amid the druggy drama, the luminous beauty of "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" is redemptive. * * * * 1/2

- Greg Kot, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

The new, post-Decca records age of the Rolling Stones began here. Sticky Fingers, released on Rolling Stones Records, a company run by Marshall Chess, saw the birth of the famous red lips on yellow logo. It came housed in Andy Warhol's audacious sleeve depicting a pair of jeans and a real zip. (Hence...Sticky Fingers. Yes, incredibly rude but most people didn't notice that at the time.) It was a new beginning in musical terms, too. Mick Taylor's influence helped pull the band deeper into the blues, while Keith Richard's burgeoning friendship with Gram Parsons brought a country beat to the Stones' heart. Fired by an enthusiasm that would weaken somewhat a week later at Altamont, they converged on Mussel Shoals Studios, deep in Alabama. In three hyper-productive days they pinned down the backing tracks for "Brown Sugar," "Wild Horses" (first recorded by Parsons' Flying Burrito Brothers) and "You Gotta Move." The rich flavour of Sticky Fingers was forged in that brief, early session, recorded in a studio that was buried deep in an old coffin factory. The remainder of the album came from Berkshire (the Rolling Stones' mobile parked next to Jagger's manor house) and Olympic Studios, London. The country/blues theme continued throughout the album, though.

- Collins Gem Classic Albums, 1999.

A celebration of unabashed hedonism as the band soars on the fiery lead guitar work of Mick Taylor, this Anglo-blooze with a sexual swagger features nasty classics "Brown Sugar" and "Bitch," the non-saccharine sweetness of "Wild Horses," the droll, country silliness of "Dead Flowers," the Santana-ish raveup of "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" and "Sister Morphine," an almost tactile experience of a drug overdoes. It's like you've been to the wildest party of all time and lived to tell the tale. * * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

Drummer Charlie Watts remembered the origin of Sticky Fingers as being Mick Jagger and the songs he wrote while filming a movie in Australia. "Mick started playing the guitar a lot," Watts said. "He plays very strange rhythm guitar...very much how Brazilian guitarists play, on the upbeat. It is very much like the guitar on a James Brown track -- for a drummer it's great to play with." The album has tough, straight-up rock, such as "Brown Sugar" and "Bitch," but also finds the Stones expanding their sound with strings on the lovely "Moonlight Mile." Two of the best cuts are the two country songs: one forlorn ("Wild Horses") and one funny ("Dead Flowers").

Sticky Fingers was chosen as the 63rd greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in Dec. 2003.

- Rolling Stone, 12/11/03.

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